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ndouglas

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2022
615
537
My daughter just grudgingly gave up her original SE last week. She had the battery replaced by Apple a year ago but the SE was long in the tooth and she needed some work apps that wouldn't work on it. Sooooo... she got the new SE3. A little larger than the original, but not egregiously so. She's loving it now, especially that old school home button.
Yesss, I‘m content with my Mini 13 but, I sure miss the TouchID, it’s so much more convenient for me. SE3 seems like a great phone, I’d have purchased it if I didn’t receive the 13 as a gift.
 

Reverend Benny

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2017
716
478
Europe
My experience and sentiment exactly. Even just idling on WiFi it empties quite quickly. Dreadful really.
I do think this is a bug in 16.5.1

If I have my SE just sitting on WiFi it will constantly try and use "find my phone".
Its the same with my cellular iPad.

Both of them don't have an active cellular at the moment and not sure that's what trigger the "find my phone" to constantly be on and draining the battery.

Will throw a SIM into my SE and see if it fixes it later this week
 
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Reverend Benny

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2017
716
478
Europe
Completely hijacking the thread, but several people referenced iFixit batteries. Are they a recommended source? How has the experience been. My 11 has 75% health 🥺
I would recommend using Apple OEM batteries and leave it to an Apple Shop to fix it. Its cheap these days and not worth messing around with 3rd party batteries.
 
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laptech

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2013
3,588
3,988
Earth
My 1st Gen SE is my daily driver and I will still be using it for as long as the app's I need to use are still supported. It has done me well. Is still on it's original battery and just checked the battery health and it is showing as 87%. I believe Apple has stopped supporting this SE so it will only be a question of time before the apps I use get updated to a point where they will no longer work because they will be requesting a later iOS version. So, until that day arrives I will continue to use my 1st Gen SE :)
 
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Andeddu

macrumors 68000
Dec 21, 2016
1,643
2,043
Wow, didn't excpect this amount of comments! Also, this amounts of OG users.

After 4 days of using mine, I can just say that is a little hard to use it. Battery is affected by the iOS and his capacity but well, if you use the phone with 2 hours of screen it last. The storage only allows me to have like 10 apps.
The performance is good for his old processor but definitely is not like the iPhone 13 Mini.

The size is a love/hate. Love because is really really small, you barely feel it in your pockets but so small that makes typing a hard experience.

Thank you guys for tell your stories with this phone. I envy those with the whit bezels.. just look so beautiful.

I'll try to use mine for a little longer and see. If not I'll just buy an SE 2020 second hand that are really inexpensive these days.
IMG_1168.jpeg
IMG_1171.jpeg

If you purchase a battery case from Amazon and replace the old phone battery via Apple you will end up with far more battery life than to know what to do with. I did both and had more charge on iOS 15 than my current regular iPhone 13, which is running on iOS 16.

I was also one of the few people who used the OGSE heavily using it to watch around 2-3 hours per day of shows on Netflix/Disney+ and YouTube videos, lots of web-browsing, chatting on WhatsApp along with FaceTime and Skype calls and Apple Music streaming in my car/Bluetooth speakers, Podcasts, etc... with a battery case you can easily obtain around 10+ hours of screen on time.

Battery was no issue for me and I really used my OGSE a lot.

The downside is that the OGSE became twice as thick but, due to the small width, it was just as easy to remove and place it into my pocket as before. You do get used to the added size/heft as well and the phone is still very small compared to anything else on the market. It’ll easily make your OGSE usable until you’re ready to get a new iPhone.
 

Reverend Benny

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2017
716
478
Europe
15.7.1 is the latest available iOS for the OG SE.

But yes, one of the updates totally destroyed the battery longevity for me.
Yea sorry, I should have mentioned its on my OG SE with 15.7.7 but also on my iPad Pro 10,5 running 16.5.1
Since I see this on both devices, using WiFi only on them at the moment it might be a fix on both versions (they fix similar security issues) that might cause it.

So check if "find my phone" are using the GPS a lot.
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
1,247
984
Yea sorry, I should have mentioned its on my OG SE with 15.7.7 but also on my iPad Pro 10,5 running 16.5.1
Since I see this on both devices, using WiFi only on them at the moment it might be a fix on both versions (they fix similar security issues) that might cause it.

So check if "find my phone" are using the GPS a lot.
15.7.7 ! I mistakenly wrote 15.7.1
 
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Dr_Charles_Forbin

Contributor
May 11, 2016
406
170
My wife has an SE2 and she's been plagued with a lot of issues recently, mostly an inability to place or receive calls. Before I did a factory reset, I was getting a message that said the battery needed to be replaced, yet the main battery screen shows the capacity at 91%. Took it to best buy and they say it passes diagnostics fine. Now I have to decide, replace with a 13 mini or get the SE 3rd gen. I'm concerned about the SE build quality. Opinons?
 

v0lume4

macrumors 68020
Jul 28, 2012
2,479
5,096
My wife has an SE2 and she's been plagued with a lot of issues recently, mostly an inability to place or receive calls. Before I did a factory reset, I was getting a message that said the battery needed to be replaced, yet the main battery screen shows the capacity at 91%. Took it to best buy and they say it passes diagnostics fine. Now I have to decide, replace with a 13 mini or get the SE 3rd gen. I'm concerned about the SE build quality. Opinons?
When you say factory reset, do you mean an iTunes Restore? I have gained back performance on two devices with an iTunes Restore. It reinstalls the OS from the bottom up, not just the user layer/settings.

Build quality… I’d reckon they’d be similar. The SE feels pretty good to me. On paper, the mini is the better phone if you don’t mind losing the old-world charm of the SE. And, the mini is EVEN SMALLER in-hand than the SE, which is awesome.
 

Dr_Charles_Forbin

Contributor
May 11, 2016
406
170
When you say factory reset, do you mean an iTunes Restore? I have gained back performance on two devices with an iTunes Restore. It reinstalls the OS from the bottom up, not just the user layer/settings.

Build quality… I’d reckon they’d be similar. The SE feels pretty good to me. On paper, the mini is the better phone if you don’t mind losing the old-world charm of the SE. And, the mini is EVEN SMALLER in-hand than the SE, which is awesome.
Complete factory reset/restore from backup. It bricked in the middle of the reset. I thought a factory reset might fix it .. which apparently it did something because that battery problem disappeared. But it’s still dropping signal.
 

v0lume4

macrumors 68020
Jul 28, 2012
2,479
5,096
Complete factory reset/restore from backup. It bricked in the middle of the reset. I thought a factory reset might fix it .. which apparently it did something because that battery problem disappeared. But it’s still dropping signal.
Aw man. :( Makes you wonder what’s going on.
 

Reverend Benny

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2017
716
478
Europe
My wife has an SE2 and she's been plagued with a lot of issues recently, mostly an inability to place or receive calls. Before I did a factory reset, I was getting a message that said the battery needed to be replaced, yet the main battery screen shows the capacity at 91%. Took it to best buy and they say it passes diagnostics fine. Now I have to decide, replace with a 13 mini or get the SE 3rd gen. I'm concerned about the SE build quality. Opinons?
I would go for the 13 mini, its definitely worth the extra money and the formfactor is great.
Camera, screen, screensize, battery time, faceID are some of the things that I think makes it a good upgrade.
 

scorpio vega

macrumors 65816
May 3, 2023
1,218
1,508
Raleigh, NC
My boyfriend swears by his OGSE. He has had his since launch and he uses it religiously and i think his is like 32 GB and he somehow is functioning just fine with it. He has it in rose gold lol. That was also a weird thing. He really like the rose gold color and is upset none of the other iphones have it. He is going to have to upgrade soon in the next month because his job requires IOS 16 i believe for their network and projects.

My brother had an OGSE as well and he just upgraded to the SE 2 since it was free. Some people really just love the smaller and retro form factors plus they really enjoy touch id for some reason.
 
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geta

macrumors 65832
May 18, 2010
1,501
1,228
The Moon
The OG SE is a great phone, special if you like small phones!

The closest we having now is the 13 Mini, but as long as the SE serves my needs, ill keep using it. The only “issue” im having is old battery, but thats easy fix with a new one.
 

oreganoinferno

macrumors regular
Dec 4, 2016
105
677
totally! Love my bezel free 13 Mini
I tried the 13 mini and it gave me motion sickness, even after turning off screen effects. Also, the HDR camera setting one can't turn off (btw, did they fix it?) makes it a horrible camera. Somehow I wish they make a 13 mini as 4. Gen SE, put in a LCD display, and re-add the HDR toggle. Then it might be a worthy successor to the original SE.
 

scorpio vega

macrumors 65816
May 3, 2023
1,218
1,508
Raleigh, NC
I tried the 13 mini and it gave me motion sickness, even after turning off screen effects. Also, the HDR camera setting one can't turn off (btw, did they fix it?) makes it a horrible camera. Somehow I wish they make a 13 mini as 4. Gen SE, put in a LCD display, and re-add the HDR toggle. Then it might be a worthy successor to the original SE.
13 mini a horrible camera? Interesting.
 

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
1,247
984
I tried the 13 mini and it gave me motion sickness, even after turning off screen effects. Also, the HDR camera setting one can't turn off (btw, did they fix it?) makes it a horrible camera. Somehow I wish they make a 13 mini as 4. Gen SE, put in a LCD display, and re-add the HDR toggle. Then it might be a worthy successor to the original SE.
I find the 13 Mini camera quite decent, it certainly makes the OG SE extreme rubbish. For important pics I have my micro 4/3s with lenses for the occasion.
 
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aespana

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 21, 2020
123
104
Well guys, I'm out with the SE. My journey is over.

The size of the phone is crucial and really annoying to type on it. And the battery just doesn't last enough.

I'm using again my 7+ and just wait for a momento to get a 12/13 Mini again and move forward
 
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Andeddu

macrumors 68000
Dec 21, 2016
1,643
2,043
Well guys, I'm out with the SE. My journey is over.

The size of the phone is crucial and really annoying to type on it. And the battery just doesn't last enough.

I'm using again my 7+ and just wait for a momento to get a 12/13 Mini again and move forward
The OGSE is pretty tough to get used to especially if you’ve been on much larger regular or plus sized phones. It is the reason you’ve mentioned that Apple will never go back to a 4” display again. Even the poor Mini was unpopular due to its small size by today’s standards.

Ah well, I’d advise you to purchase a new 13 Mini from Apple while you still can to ensure that the battery health is at 100%.
 
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